1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote-control technique in consumer appliances, such as an HDD recorder, furnished with multiple functions including, for example, an audio playback function and a video recording function.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the improvement of the semiconductor manufacturing technique and the information processing technique in recent years, so-called consumer appliances are being made multifunctional at a fast pace. Most of the consumer appliances of this type are remotely controllable, and the user is able to use multiple functions by manipulating a single remote controller.
With the aim of managing and using multiple functions collectively, there have been proposed various schemes that make it possible to control a plurality of discrete devices by a single remote controller (for example, patent document JP-A-11-3166)
Incidentally, conventional consumer appliances are designed on the assumption that there is only one remote controller for remote-control operations. Hence, concurrent use of a function X by a user A and a function Y by a user B is not anticipated.
However, a wireless network technique that enables, for example, a cableless interconnection of a plurality of electronic appliances has been developing recently, and a plurality of personal computers interconnected through a network are becoming able to operate as a remote controller for remote-control operations.
The inventor has surmised that one day it will be common practice to control, for example, an HDD recorder furnished with an audio playback function and a video recording function, installed in the living room, such that user A may perform a manipulation for the audio playback function on his personal computer in his room while at the same time the user B may perform a manipulation for the video recording function on his personal computer in his room. However, such operations would require concurrent use of two remote controllers and resolving contention problems among them as well as problems of exclusive use of certain functions dependent on the particular hardware and functions desired to be controlled.
The invention was devised in view of the foregoing, and therefore has an object to provide an electronic appliance and a remote controller that enable concurrent, independent use of multiple functions by a plurality of remote controllers.